What Have You Watched Recently?

[Susano]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

We had a movie fest Sunday. The Big Hit, Death Proof, and Planet Terror. The Big Hit was, well, a big hit. Everyone agreed that Death Proof was too long, to slow, and not all that interesting, unless Kurt Russel was on the screen. Planet Terror was considered to be just about perfect.

[Bazza]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

So' date=' what did you think?[/quote'] Sorry i didn't respond today Oddhat. I'll try to remedy that tomorrow.

[Pariah]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Murder on the Orient Express. It was a lot of fun, and the ending was pretty interesting. With about 30 minutes left in the movie, my wife declared triumphantly, "I know who did it!"

 

 

As it turned out, the guy she picked was the only one who didn't do it!

 

[Dholcrist]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Finished watching Season 3 of Veronica Mars a few days ago.

 

Sigh... why'd they have to cancel it? And fast-forwarding it to her in the FBI would've been awesome, the mini-pilot was pretty well done.

 

Been watching Lost Season 3 on Blu-Ray, which is simply amazing. I mean... wow. And I was surprised by how much I'm enjoying the story now, I had tried watching S3 on tv but got bored immediately. Can't wait to finish the last two eps.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Spider Woman: Death's Web

 

I cannot generate enough hate for Thailand after watching this.

 

Why, what's so bad about it?

 

Myself, I'm curious about a Thai film called Garuda, in which a giant bird-man starts ripping the country apart.

[Susano]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Why, what's so bad about it?

 

Myself, I'm curious about a Thai film called Garuda, in which a giant bird-man starts ripping the country apart.

 

Watch the laughably awful The Protector and try to avoid being hit over the head with "city folk = bad" and "Western city folk doubly so."

[OddHat]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Watch the laughably awful The Protector and try to avoid being hit over the head with "city folk = bad" and "Western city folk doubly so."

 

Oh yes.

 

The saddest part is that the fight choreography and stunts are often pretty good; even some of the characters have a certain iconic appeal. And yet it remains a hilariously bad movie.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Just re-watched a bit of Silent Rage. When I was a kid, I liked this film: Resurrecting killer with moderate super strength versus Chuck Norris.

 

As an adult, I can't enjoy it nearly as much. Terrible fight choreography.

[Susano]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Oh yes.

 

The saddest part is that the fight choreography and stunts are often pretty good; even some of the characters have a certain iconic appeal. And yet it remains a hilariously bad movie.

 

Now the one-take of Tony Jaa charging up the hotel ramp to the top is cool!

 

It was also fun to say "Hey! I was there!" while watching the Sydney scenes.

[Sundog]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Saw Ong-Bak on SBS yesterday. Good choreography, good characterization, and a good story - not many 'martial arts' films are this good.

 

I was struck by how 'western' the film seemed. The tropes, pacing and cinematography all seemed much more Hollywood than Hong Kong, which was the style I was expecting.

[L. Marcus]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

. . . While having an Anti-Western slant. I like that.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Just re-watched a bit of Silent Rage. When I was a kid, I liked this film: Resurrecting killer with moderate super strength versus Chuck Norris.

 

As an adult, I can't enjoy it nearly as much. Terrible fight choreography.

 

I think I remember that film. Something like "Chuck Norris versus Jason Voorhees", wasn't it?

[OddHat]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

I think I remember that film. Something like "Chuck Norris versus Jason Voorhees"' date=' wasn't it?[/quote']

 

Pretty much. Again, a disappointment; liked it as a kid, just couldn't buy the bad guy as a threat as an adult.

[Dholcrist]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

In the middle of watching the first season of Boston Legal with the girlfriend, finally. We've watched the show off and on for the past two seasons, but we never DVR'd it because we kept vowing to just get the dvd's and watch them in order, but that never happened.

 

Man, I do love this show though. Denny Krane is my hero.

[OddHat]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Re-watched Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress.

 

Classic film, and still very entertaining.

[copeab]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Why, what's so bad about it?

 

Oh, where do I start?

 

The dubbing for Spider Woman: Death's Web was as bad, if not worse, than most martial arts movies. At least in a martial arts movie there is plenty of action to distract you from that. Not so in this movie.

 

(One line I really want to use in a game is "You evil woman! Come out of your cave!")

 

The pacing was terrible. The greatest sin of the movie that it had extended sequences that were very boring.

 

The special effects were incredibly cheap CGI. Atorr fought a more convincing spider.

 

The film/cameras they used made it look more like a TV soap opera.

[Susano]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Portions of Flesh Gordon

[NestorDRod]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Portions of Flesh Gordon

 

 

[Susano]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

*shrug* Hey, it at arrived last night, and we'd ordered a used copy, which meant it was already unwrapped.

 

It's a fairly clean copy, and I think it's pretty funny that Mr. Incredible is the voice of Ymir the monster. "Up yours, Gordon...."

[Nolgroth]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Dexter Season Two.

 

Have you ever had a book that you just couldn't put down? Dexter quickly became the tv show that I couldn't stop watching. I was a little worried about this season. There was a lot of meandering, but somehow the writers managed to pull it back together and wrap up everything towards the end of the season.

 

One of the thing's I like about Dexter is that each season is self-contained. They did reference the first season from time to time, but mostly it was all contained within its own little nutshell.

 

As to the story and characters, Rita still remains my favorite character. A lot of the supporting characters remained true to their own self-destructive tendencies and that was pretty sad. Dexter was awesome in this season. He is still evil, but the portrayal of all his doubts and fears were pretty easy to relate to. By the end of the season when he resolves those issues, you almost want to cheer for him.

 

 

And then there is Lila. Watching that character was freaky weird. I knew somebody that used so-called "self assessment" as a manipulation tool just like she did. It was scary watching the exact same kind of thing happening to Dexter. Lila was the major reason I started to sympathize with Dexter. Still gives me shivers and watching Lila reinforced the decision I made to break off with my own "Lila."

 

Also, since I have the spoiler tag, I absolutely hated what happened to Doakes. Having Lila become some sort of Deus Ex Machina to save Dexter from a very hard choice was pretty lame. I actually started to like Doakes and would have preferred he remained in his role of "antagonist" to Dexter. I can only hope that La Guarda (sp?) steps up to that mantle in Doakes place.

 

 

All in all, I wouldn't call Dexter fun. It certainly has some fun moments and some corny jokes, but it isn't fun. It is however, a gripping story that pulls you into it. There were some things (referenced in the Spoiler tag) that I didn't particularly like about this season, but the fact that the writers are able to elicit such strong opinions is a good thing. I've never felt as if the show has become a chore to watch.

[Susano]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Miracle -- since it happened last week in Lake Placid 28 years ago.

[BlackSword]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Friday I watched the season finale to Monk, Saturday I gamed all day, Sunday I watched a few cooking shows while I was spinning, ninja warrior during lunch, and FX was showing The Punisher, so I put in the DVD and watched the last half.

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Josh and I watched The Sun Also Rises on Friday. He found the bullfighting stuff interesting, but I was mostly just bored. How very Hemingway.

 

Then on Saturday we watched Resident Evil (whee) and Shoot 'Em Up. With the latter, one has to be in the right mindset. It's clearly not meant to be taken too seriously. I mean, a gunfight in freefall from 20,000 feet? Really? For all the blood and gore, I still found it immensely entertaining.

[OddHat]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Dexter Season Two.

 

Have you ever had a book that you just couldn't put down? Dexter quickly became the tv show that I couldn't stop watching. I was a little worried about this season. There was a lot of meandering, but somehow the writers managed to pull it back together and wrap up everything towards the end of the season.

 

One of the thing's I like about Dexter is that each season is self-contained. They did reference the first season from time to time, but mostly it was all contained within its own little nutshell.

 

As to the story and characters, Rita still remains my favorite character. A lot of the supporting characters remained true to their own self-destructive tendencies and that was pretty sad. Dexter was awesome in this season. He is still evil, but the portrayal of all his doubts and fears were pretty easy to relate to. By the end of the season when he resolves those issues, you almost want to cheer for him.

 

 

And then there is Lila. Watching that character was freaky weird. I knew somebody that used so-called "self assessment" as a manipulation tool just like she did. It was scary watching the exact same kind of thing happening to Dexter. Lila was the major reason I started to sympathize with Dexter. Still gives me shivers and watching Lila reinforced the decision I made to break off with my own "Lila."

 

Also, since I have the spoiler tag, I absolutely hated what happened to Doakes. Having Lila become some sort of Deus Ex Machina to save Dexter from a very hard choice was pretty lame. I actually started to like Doakes and would have preferred he remained in his role of "antagonist" to Dexter. I can only hope that La Guarda (sp?) steps up to that mantle in Doakes place.

 

 

All in all, I wouldn't call Dexter fun. It certainly has some fun moments and some corny jokes, but it isn't fun. It is however, a gripping story that pulls you into it. There were some things (referenced in the Spoiler tag) that I didn't particularly like about this season, but the fact that the writers are able to elicit such strong opinions is a good thing. I've never felt as if the show has become a chore to watch.

 

I was a big fan of Dexter Season One, and I agree with your spoilered comments on season two. Didn't much the resolution, and the season in general just didn't hang together as well as Season One. That said, it was still entertaining, and I will be tuning in for 3. Here's hoping that they can pull it together.

[OddHat]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Watched the Criterion Edition of Seven Samurai.

 

Wow. Just Wow.

 

Still an absolutely fantastic film. Bits here and there that don't communicate themselves well to an audience unfamiliar with the period and setting, but a true classic.

 

Watched Oldboy.

 

Not as good as I'd hoped, but superb direction and plenty of black humor. Tragedy layered on tragedy. Well worth watching if you're in a very dark mood and want to explore it. Not a "triumphant" revenge movie despite the trappings; the theme that comes through most is that vengeance degrades and destroys everyone it touches, both victim and victimizer.

[OddHat]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Just re-watched Yes Madam!, 1985, Michelle Yao and Cynthia Rothrock.

 

If you are on any level a fan of 1980s action movies, 1980s Hong Kong Action, Michelle or Cynthia, this was excellent. Go buy or rent it.

 

I know I've said this before, but seeing Michelle in the 1980s really brings home why she was such a box office draw. Amazingly beautiful, a very good actress by HK standards, fast and convincing when doing stunt work. Cynthia made a great co-star, and it's a shame her career never took off in the way Michelle's did. Cynthia's stuntwork and martial arts were top tier (not a surprise given her background), and she was a hottie in the day (she's still very good looking now).

 

The story was fairly good for the period, and it was fun to see Sammo's old comedy cronies running around in a more serious action movie.